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~J <br /> <br />EXHIBIT "I:" <br />CLIDL4TE <br />In this sun•ey area, summers are warm or hot in most of the valleys but are much cooler in the <br />mountains. Winters are cold in the mountains the valleys are colder than the louver slopes of adjacent <br />mountains because of cold air drainage. Precipitation occurs in the mountains through the year, and <br />a deep snovvpack accumulates during winter,. In summer the precipitation in valleys falls mainly as <br />showers, but some thunderstorm occur. In winter the ground is covered with snow much of the time. <br />Chinook winds, which blow downslope are warm and dry, often melt and evaporate the snow (17). <br />Table 1 give data on temperature and precipitation for the survey area, as recorded at Walsenburg <br />Power Plant in the period 1951-73. Table 2 shows probably dates of the first freeze in fall and the <br />last freeze in spring. Table 3 provides data on length of the growing season. <br />]n winter, the avcragc tempcmturc is 34.9 degrees P and the average daily minimum temperature is <br />22 degrees. The lowest temperature on record, -36 degrees occurred at Walsenburg Power Plant on <br />January 12, 1963. 1n summer, the average temperature is 69.5 degrees and the average daily <br />maximum temperature of 84.8 degrees. The highest temperature, 100 degrees was recorded on June <br />24, 196. <br />Growing degree days shown in table 1, are equivalent to "heat units." Beginning in spring, growing <br />degree days accumulate by the amount that the average temperature each day exceeds a base <br />temperature (40 degrees F). The normal monthly accumulation is used to schedule single or <br />successive plantings of a crop between the last freeze in spring and the first freeze in fall. <br />Of the total annual precipitation, 9.68 inches, or 64 percent, usually falls during April through <br />September, which includes the growing season for most crops. Tvvo years in ten, the rainfall from <br />April to September is less than 6.86 inches. The heaviest 1-day rainfall during the period of record <br />was 3 inches at Walsenburg Povver Plant on April 13, 1967. Thrmderstorms number about 44 each <br />year, 30 of which occur in summer. <br />The average seasonal snowfall is 78 inches. The greatest snow depth at any one time during the <br />period of record vvas 24 inches. On the average, 1 l days have at (east 1 inch of snow on the ground, <br />but the member of days varies greatly from year to year. <br />The average relative humidity in midafternoon in spring is less than 35 percent; during the rest of <br />the year it is about 4~ percent. Humidity is higher at night in all seasons, and the average at dawn <br />is about 77 percent. The percentage of possible sunshine is 77 percent in summer and 73 percent in <br />winter. The prevailing direction of the wind is from the south-southeast. The average vvindspeed <br />is highest, 10.4 miles per hour, in April. <br />C!lnrnle injornrn!/on taken from "Soil Sur•ve}• ojHuerjnna CarrnlJ~ Area Colorado, USDA <br />